No-Hitter

Here’s the unedited Director’s Cut version of my column that will appear in Thursday’s newspaper–quite a performance by young Timothy . . .

The Bay Area needs no new summer theme park thrill rides. It still has Tim Lincecum.

The Giants’ pitcher, who has been spectacularly up and down in terms of success over the past few seasons, was at the very peak of his freaky-geeky powers Wednesday at AT&T Park.

His fastball worked. His off-speed stuff worked. His hipster-hurler mojo worked, like, totally. And after nine innings of all that, Lincecum had thrown a no-hitter against the San Diego Padres – his second no-hitter against them in the past two seasons.

And what about all of Lincecum’s games between those two no-hitters? In those 28 starts, Lincecum allowed 164 hits in 173 1/3 innings of pitching – with 11 victories and 10 defeats.

This explains why, every time he takes the mound, Lincecum is an adventure. None of us ever knows exactly what we’re going to get. Although clearly, the man needs to face the Padres more often. And not just because they are statistically the weakest hitting team in the Major Leagues. Lincecum also banged out two hits himself Wednesday against San Diego pitching.

In fact, Lincecum said that he didn’t really grasp what a special day he was having in the 4-0 victory until he reached base on his own his own hits. And in the immediate aftermath, he wasn’t able to put much in perspective.

“When I’m older, I’ll reflect on it more,” Lincecum told reporters at a press session after the game.

All right, so let’s do the reflecting for him.

More than anything, Wednesday shows what the Giants were thinking when they re-signed Lincecum last winter to a 2-year contract worth $35 million, in spite of his inconsistent recent seasons.

Lincecum, after winning two Cy Young Awards and becoming a poster child for two World Series champions, is the closest thing that Giants’ fans have to an Elvis. They’ll never forget how they felt when he sang for the first time. They’ll show up to cheer him. And no matter how much he slips in his uneven performances as he grows older, they’ll always recall when he was the king and pull for him to sing the way they know he can.